BBC Boss to Call for Separate Regulator for U.K. Public Broadcaster

To ensure "creative freedom," Tony Hall says the BBC must be "free from political influence."

BBC director general Tony Hall will on Monday say that the U.K. public broadcaster needs a separate external regulator to protect it from political interference.

Some have called for British media regulator Ofcom to take over regulation of the BBC from the often criticized BBC Trust.

The Guardian reported that in a speech on Monday evening in Cardiff, Wales, Hall will become the first BBC director general to call for a separate regulator that "holds our feet firmly to the fire on distinctiveness."

"I don’t want a system that stifles us ... that tells us how to do our job, rather than the job we should be doing," Hall is expected to say in his speech, the paper said. "That freezes today’s BBC in aspic so that we can’t respond to tomorrow."

It further quoted from the prepared remarks: "It is independence that should allow us ... creative freedom. Aware of the market, but not led by it. Answerable to parliament, but free from political influence. Not having to navigate no-go areas or define "good” in advance ... but allowing program makers to focus on making their programs, and letting risk of failure be the price of success."